Use of closure area and resources per unit area for assessing undiscovered petroleum resources in part of the Cooper Basin,South Australia

Undiscovered petroleum resources may be assessed using a computer program that simulates drilling each trap in a play and estimates the size of each potential discovery by multiplying together estimates of area of closure (A _cles) and resources per unit area (V _A ). There are several ways of determining values forA _cles andV _A so that the method can be widely applied. As an example, the sales gas potential of part of the Cooper Basin in South Australia is assessed using statistical projections of loglinear models to determine values forA _cles andV _A . A discontinuity in these particular data appears to result from an improvement in the quality and density of the seismic surveying, demonstrating that an assessment based on widely spaced or poor-quality seismic surveys can underestimate sales gas potential.